Drug pricing; It’s complicated The White House Rose Garden was in full bloom when President Trump took the podium to announce that his administration was “launching the most sweeping action in history to lower the price of prescription drugs for the American people.” He said: “It’s been a complicated process, but not too complicated.” Thing…

It sounds great, finally, a plan to stem the tide of out-of-control drug prices. On Friday, May 11, President Donald Trump unveiled a 44-page document, his “American Patients First” plan. It immediately caused drug company and pharmacy benefit stocks to surge. Consumers were enthusiastically wide-eyed with his new “blueprint,” no surprise since 80 percent of…

Healthcare continues to be a conundrum for the United States. In mid-January, three of America’s undeniably great minds—in business, anyway—announced they would take on the very difficult business of healthcare, admitting that their idea is still in its infancy. The illustrious CEO trio of Jeff Bezos, Warren Buffett and Jamie Dimon of Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway,…

The late healthcare economist Uwe Reinhardt once quipped about why healthcare costs are so high, “It’s the prices, stupid.” Add to that the reality that our United States population health outcomes are just not fabulous and neither is our overall health coverage. Those realities were confirmed by The Commonwealth Fund’s “Mirror, Mirror 2017” report…

Although the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recently sent a letter to the Insurance Commissioner of Idaho raising concerns about some changes the state has proposed. The state is expected to continue its efforts to introduce some lower cost health insurance plans in 2018. The proposed plans raised the attention of…

Of the many healthcare companies that will make headlines in 2018, CVS Health has the potential to draw the most attention. The Rhode Island-based drugstore retailing giant is poised to close a mammoth $69 billion deal to acquire health insurer Aetna by the third quarter of this year, CVS CEO Larry Merlo told analysts on…

Medicaid Work Requirements Fifteen Medicaid beneficiaries in Kentucky recently filed suit against the state over its decision to add work requirements for many of the state’s Medicaid recipients. The case is important because at least nine more states are hoping to add similar Medicaid work requirements for some beneficiaries. The decision in the Kentucky case,…

As the first year of President Donald Trump’s administration winds down, he is experiencing the limitations of that office. For example, the GOP-controlled Congress has been unable to produce a bill to repeal-and-replace bill for the Affordable Care Act, despite Trump’s promise he would sign such a bill without question. In response, Trump has taken…

Rural Healthcare: A team of researchers from the Centers for Disease Control gave a report recently which found that the rates of traffic fatalities, suicide, and drug overdose deaths were higher in rural or non-metropolitan areas of the country.[1] The findings of the presentation, which coincided with the sixth annual National Rural Health Day planned…

Gun Violence and Mental Health: When the anchor at XYZ Network comes on with “Breaking News” and an announcement that “The latest mass shooting has claimed the lives of XXX people,” it’s clear that the commentary has evolved from one of shock and awe to a kind of inevitability, such as: After all, we’ve “only”…

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